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Are you a new business owner in need of a website? If you are just getting started, you will need to purchase a domain name and website hosting.

This article is an updated and revised version from an original posting in 2014.

The first step in building your small business online presence is finding a website hosting company (this is where your website will live).

YOU, the business owner, should purchase your website hosting package (not your web developer). Stay in control of your business asset! If you pay for and manage your website hosting account, you can then have full control of your website, your business’s greatest asset.

The cost for shared web/email hosting is just under $120 per year, for most hosting providers. Shared hosting means that you share a server with other companies. This is the most economical way to host your website and it works fine for most small businesses.

What we have learned over the years is that there is not one perfect hosting solution. All hosting providers have their issues. When shopping for a hosting provider consider what services you receive with the hosting package and whether they have 24/7 phone support.

Website Hosting Reviews Based on Experience:

InMotion Hosting’s shared hosting plans come with a free domain for the first year, BoldGrid website builder and WordPress. The $120/year (this will be your renewal price, with promotions, you can receive a more budget friendly hosting package) is well worth the investment for the quality of hosting and customer service. InMotion Hosting will also move your website and email from your current hosting provider, free of charge, if it is hosted on a cpanel account. I recommend adding domain privacy which will costs an extra $10/year. InMotion Hosting offers 24 hour customer phone or chat support.

Even though they offer unlimited websites on each account, InMotion will limit or shutdown a website that is using too many resources (due to malware scanning or backups). If you have a large site, or multiple sites, we recommend Inmotion’s VPS hosting.

InMotion Hosting has been my first choice for hosting providers and is the hosting provider used by Current Marketing Services. (UPDATE: As of 7/27/2017 InMotion Hosting announced the introduction of FREE private SSLs on all Shared Business Hosting, VPS Hosting, and Dedicated Server plans. )

The Bluehost shared hosting BASIC plan is fine for a very simple website; however, the PLUS plan will most likely offer better performance for a small business website. This plan comes with a free domain (one year) and you can one-click install WordPress. Currently this shared hosting package renews at $120/year. If you have a large site and a need for speed, consider one of Bluehost’s Cloud Hosting Solutions. We recommend the Business Pro which includes the dedicated IP, Site Backup, and SSL certificate.

Bluehost Customer service is usually decent. Over the past few years Bluehost has experienced growing pains and their support had diminished. Lately, however, we have experienced shorter support wait times when calling into their 24 hour help line. One very nice feature about Bluehost is that they offer a FREE SSL certificate, with a simple installation method. SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. It is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link ensures that all data passed between the web server and browsers remain private and integral. You know a site has an SSL certificate if you see an https in the URL and a green lock in the address bar. Other web hosts offer a basic SSL certificate for about $99 per year. Google announced on their blog that they are using the use of HTTPS as one of the many ranking signals.

GoDaddy’s ECONOMY hosting plan will serve your purposes if you only have one website to host. The Economy plan does come with a free domain, if you pay for a full year. What GoDaddy does not disclose is the need to add “resources” to your account if you want to use certain WordPress plugins (malware scanning and backup software included). The more expensive hosting plans DO NOT come with additional server resources. Additionally, I highly recommend purchasing their Site Backup & Restore. If your website goes down for whatever reason (it happens to everyone at one time or another), GoDaddy will charge your $150 to restore your website, if you do not have the Site Back up service. Should your site go down InMotion and Bluehost will restore your site to the most recent backup, at no extra charge. So what seems like “really cheap” website hosting grows by about $4 per month once the resources and backup services are added on.

GoDaddy will recommend their WordPress Hosting as a way to add additional resources. The trade off is not having the freedom to use some of your own plugins (malware scanning and backups). The WordPress Managed Hosting accounts we have seen all have Site Backup included, but this feature is not listed in the hosting description.

GoDaddy does have decent customer service. A live person is available 24 hours a day, via their NON toll-free number.

We do not have experience with this hosting provider, but this newcomer looks promising and deserves a look. Their basic plan looks suitable for most small businesses. They offer free SSL Installation and free daily backups.

All customer service is through email only during daytime hours only. Not my favorite.

Shared Hosting vs Managed Hosting

We do not recommend “WordPress” hosting packages but rather business shared hosting. The regular business shared hosting plans offer the option to install WordPress. Just because you plan to use WordPress, does not mean you need a “WordPress” hosting plan. The difference is the managed WordPress Hosting plans offer improved performance and software updates. The problem is the hosting providers will limit the plugins allowed and not all plugins are updated, which leaves the site owner with a false sense of website security. It is better to sign up for the shared hosting plan and then make sure you take a backup of the site regularly and manually update the software at least once a month.

The exception to managed hosting options is StudioPress (affiliate link). StudioPress now offers a managed WordPress hosting option that comes complete with Genesis Themes. It is an all-in-one site building and managed hosting solution. Only one website is allowed on each account, and like other managed hosting solutions, plugin use is limited and not all plugins will be updated by the StudioPress team. If you are considering purchasing a Genesis theme, this may be a good alternative for you. Just be aware that you will need to update software at least one time each month.

There are other budget friendly shared hosting providers out there, but none that we have seen that compare in price and service. If you have a recommendation for hosting, we would be glad to take a fair look and let you know our opinion.

How to shop for web hosting.

I suggest that you look at as many hosting providers as possible. Look at reviews for customer satisfaction.

These are the web hosting features to look for:

Disk Storage Space: unlimited is preferred

Domain Names Hosting: Consider how many domains you will park on the account and how much it cost to host a domain name

How many websites are allowed: will you need more than one website?

Do they take daily Data Backups: will the host backup your website daily? Even if you take your own backups, this is important.

Do they have excellent Customer Service: Is a live person available by chat or phone? What are the support hours? When it comes to web hosting companies, having excellent customer support is mandatory. When you have issues with your website, the web hosting support team must be available to help you resolve the issue, any time of day!

Do they offer Website Migration: If you are moving a website, will the host move it for you

Do they offer SSL certificates? What is the cost?

Are you getting a dedicated IP – Better for email when you have your own personal IP address.

Bottom line, if you experience a problem with your website, will the hosting provider be there to help.

Email Hosting Service

When you purchase a domain you will have the ability to setup unlimited email accounts with your account. With your personal domain name and a hosting account you can set up email accounts such as [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], etc, You can also set up a generic email account to forward to your everyday email account.

If you are not comfortable setting up your hosting or email account, you can hire Current Marketing Services or another website service company to help. Regardless of who sets up your domain and hosting, please be sure the domain and hosting account is purchased in your business name!

If you have any other web hosting or email questions, please feel free to ask in the comment section at the bottom of this post.

Calling small business owners!

Are you interested in learning more about Internet Marketing For your small business? The Digital Marketing For Business Conference in Raleigh, NC, on May 6th, 2014 is designed especially for you! The scheduled sessions have an impressive lineup of speakers, well-known in the industry, ready to teach you how to use Internet Marketing to grow your business.

I will be teaching a class on effective web design on May 6th at 9:25 am. The Effective Website Design Tips and Best Practices course is designed for the entry-level user and will provide a practical guide to creating a website that engages your visitors and helps them perform the desired actions. For example, if you have an online store, learn what design is best to get more clicks on your products, and in turn, more sales. Or if your goal is to build a mailing list, learn how to best attract and capture more email addresses.

If you haven’t registered yet, please do so now. The early bird rate for the conference ends on April 15th. As a speaker, I am able to offer an additional promotional savings. This promotional rate also is ending very soon.

Although WordPress web software is fairly easy to use and learn, there are some important guidelines that are better to learn before you get started. Here is a summary of some of the more important guidelines.

Where To Find WordPress Help

When working within WordPress, help is just a click away (Look for HELP in the upper-right-hand corner of the page).

BACKUP often and ALWAYS before any updates. At least one backup a month and after you make changes

Delete spam comments

Keep your password secure and choose usernames that are not obvious (Please do not use ADMIN or 1234567!)

Don’t share your password with other users. Create a new USER account for each person on your WP site. You should consider creating a new user account for yourself that is strictly for adding posts (EDITOR)

If you have a question, feel free to ask questions at the bottom this page.

Posts and Pages:

When copying text from a word-processing program or another website be sure to remove the formatting first. The best way to do this is to post into Notepad first to remove any formatting.

Use Chrome or Firefox browsers to take advantage of their spellcheck features; otherwise be certain to use spellchecker before publishing your page.

You have one chance to change your permalink (URL), before you publish your page or post. Check your permalink (URL) before initially publishing your page to make sure it is “pretty” and useful. Sometimes WordPress assigns numbers to pages and sometimes you may not want your page link to be the same as your title. Use the “edit” button to make this permanentpretty permalink change.

I hope you found the WordPress help you were looking for. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comment area below or via the Contact Form. Also, if you have WordPress tips that you think will help others, feel free to share them as well.

Primary Sidebar

This the the framework we use on this site and most other client sites:

Budget Friendly Web Hosting

InMotion Hosting is now offering free SSL certificates.

Bluehost is another budget friendly hosting provider we recommend. Free SSL certificates is one great reason to host with Bluehost.

While I do make recommendations for products that I like to use; I receive a small commission for referring business to InMotionhosting,Bluehost and StudioPress-Genesis. If you prefer that I am not compensated for the referral, feel free to enter the referred site from outside of this web page.

Diane Benzie

Terri is the consummate professional and amazing website designer. She is able to take your thoughts, ideas, and inspiration, and create a world-class, cohesive website...all at a very affordable fee. I could not be happier with our new site (https://lebrewcoffee.com) and the service I received from Terri. It is not easy to find someone with Terri's technical expertise, creativity, and business acumen, who is able to take a holistic view of your business and create something so amazing.

~DiAne Benzie, Lebrew Coffee

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Business Information

CMS NC, LLC
DBA Current Marketing Services

Raleigh,
North Carolina27606

Phone: 919-780-4810

Services available to clients throughout the United States. Onsite training available in the Raleigh, Cary, Garner, NC area.